Friday, January 9, 2009

What does “reborn” mean?

As I told you in my first post, my “modelling career”(!) began in early 80’s.

And I focused mainly on military ground vehicles.

Of course I made models of planes and ships also; but they didn’t attract me that much and even today they don’t!

And I had to take a break from 94 – till 2009.

There were a lot of reasons for this break.

At first I began to live in Germany; it was a great chance but a difficult procedure.

Then I found other hobbies; playing wargames and painting miniatures. (2002 – 2008)

But the main reason and the great motivation behind the restart of my hobby is actually a BIG and DRAMATICAL mistake I made during moving back to Turkey, which ended up with the LOSS of a BIG PART of my COLLECTION.

After I overcame the shock, I began to update myself about the latest(!) developments in the modelling area since 90’s.

When I stopped modelling, there were only a few companies like Airfix, Matchbox, Esci, Hasegawa, Fujimi in 1/72 and Tamiya in 1/35 & 1/48 in the market.

Those were the ones, which we could effort financially. And more important, they were the ones which were imported to Turkey.

Today I am positively surprised to by the number of the new producers especially from the former Eastern Bloc countries and their overwhelming assortments with an outstanding measure of quality (with some exceptions, like everywhere!)

The first model I bought in this part of the world/ South America is a Heller production French Somua Tank.

As we were visiting the famous San Telmo Antiques Market in Buenos Aires on Sunday, we saw a stand with many painted miniatures and surrounded by a crowd of amazed people. After a small chat, (which was far too long for my lovely wife!), we bought some (not enough for me!) miniatures and decided to go to their small shop nearby to see some more miniatures and models.


The store was full of miniatures but they only had a few models; three tanks by Fujimi in 1/76 scale, one Somua by Heller in 1/72 scale and some airplane models from various companies. (even Matchbox)

As I prefer the ground vehicles, the airplanes were out of question and because I believe that 1/72 is a more common scale, we decided to buy the French Samua as the first model of our new collection. (I say “we” because as a smart guy, in order to convince my lovely wife, I have to involve her in every step of the process!)

So, Somua had been choosen to be our first model of our new collection and my wife has also agreed with the Samua!!! (The light tanks before and during WW2 are her first favorites!)

Our Argentinian friends from the store said that they also produce some items like the tank they gave me as a present right before we had left, which you can see below!




(1/72 scale tanquette – early 30’s model made of tin) This is one of the best models I have seen so far produced by such a small company.

See below the stand with the amazed people in San Telmo and the friendly & professional owners of the stand /shop of miniatures.

The friendly and professional team of the shop! (producer, painter and marketing team; especially Argentine and then the whole South America)




Hang on our blog!



Modelmaker

Monday, January 5, 2009

Why "World in 1/ 72 scale"?

Hello Everybody,

who takes a look at my blog!

I don't know the reason for your visit; but you are sincerly "WELCOME!"

I was born in Istanbul, studied in a German Highschool and Economics Faculty of University of Istanbul.

I am 44 years old and for the time being I am living in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with my wonderful wife.

The last 15 years I lived in Munich/Germany in different companies in Product and Finance Departments.

I am unemployed since the 01 October 2008 (not because of the global crisis!) and enjoy my marriage with my sweetheart!

This timeout gave me the opportunity to concentrate on my everlasting hobby "Modelling in 1/72 scale"

It's difficult to find any specialized modelling shop in Sao Paulo. But of course, as in many other countries, you can buy online.

Even in online shopping, the number of options in 1/72 scale are limited. The prices are higher than in Europe and North America due to the high transportation and tax costs on the imported products and the profit per unit is low.

The logically first question could be: "Why did I choose 1/72 scale?"

I began making modells in early 80's.

Those days we had high taxes on imported goods in Turkey and we had to pay high prices (converted into any foreign currency) for a small scale plastic modell.

So it was a desicion with a financial background.

But today, with a collection of small models, which are getting more and more I am very happy with this decision. (my wife especially!) as they require less space...

At the moment, I am not sure how I should/would/want to design this blog. Any opinion or idea to improve this blog is welcome.

Thanks in advance